Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 25,503, William Goff, Mass.

SERVICE
NUMBER
Mass
Goff, William Zucker, Anna
W. 25.503,
Former widow
CONTENTS
[Lined area for contents]
[Lined area for contents]

1945- Maine
Anna Tucker formerly widow of William Goff dec. Con. who died in the fall of 1778 in the State of Rhode Island who was a Corporal in the Company commanded by Captain Merrill of the Regiment commanded by Col Phiney in the Massachusetts time for 9 months Corporal 10 " private
Inscribed on the Roll of Maine at the rate of $2 Dollars 67 Cents, per annum, to commence on the 4th day of March, 1831.
Certificate of Pension issued the 17th day of April 1835 and sent to Hon. J. K. Parrish
Arrears to the 4th of March 1835 $578.62 Semi-annual allowance ending 4 Sept 35 41.33
$619.95
Revolutionary Claim, Act July 4, 1836, Section the 3rd
Recorded by D. W. G. S. 101. Clerk Book a 154 2 Page 17

(Copy)
Paris, Feb. 27 th , 1830
Joseph E. Foxcroft Esq. Dear Sir,
I am desirous of obtaining some record evidence of the marriage between William Goff & Anna Morse : which marriage was solemnized by the Revd Samuel Foxcroft, your honored father, before the American revolution - William Goff died while in the service, in the fall of the year 1790, and she the said Anna now remains his widow - If there are no record of marriages at that early period, either in the town or church records, or if the records have been lost, I will thank you to say so, in your answer to this letter. - If there are any record of the publication of the parties in the town records, I will be much obliged if you will send me a copy - or if there be any record of the birth of William Goff (son of the said William Goff deceased) who now resides in Gray - please to send that likewise, and any testimony you may be able to obtain of the marriage, publication or death of either the said William Goff or William Tucker -
Yours aff ct sent
(signed)
Thomas Clarke

New Gloston Mar. 5
Jos. E. Foxcroft P.M.
Thomas Clark Esq
Paris (Me)

New Gloucester March 5 1838 Thomas Clarke Esq r
Dear Sir,
Your letter of 27 ult on the subject of the marriage of Anna Morse is before me.
After considerable labour & perseverance I have been able to find the Record of marriages kept by my late honored Father Samuel Foxcroft who was settled in the Gospel ministry in this town in the year 1765 The record commenced Nov. 28. 1765 and closed in the year 1793 All kept in his own hand writing.
I find in this record that he joined in marriage on the 27 May 1773 William Goff to Anna Morse. Again I find that on the 8 th of March 1787 he joined in marriage William Tucker to Anna Goff.
I find also in a Record of Deaths which my Father kept during the aforesaid period the following record " May 28 1783  William Goff dyed in the army 1778 ". —
I find a note or memo. at the bottom of the Page in April 1788 that he returned a list of marriages to the Town Clerk, but the present Town Clerk cannot find that that list was recorded with the Town records. I have an impression that the law required the Town Clerks to return a list of all marriages to the Clerk of the County Court perhaps recorded

of Sessions of the date mentioned.
I have not been able to discover any thing more in relation to the subject of your letter.
I wish it may prove useful in aiding the good old Lady to obtain the means of making herself comfortable in her old age, to which she appears in law to be entitled.
I am Sir respectfully your ob t . Servant Joseph E. Foxcroft

I Isaac Allen of Oxford in the County of Cumberland & State of Maine, aged eighty one years, do hereby testify and say. That I was acquainted with William Goff in the town of New Gloucester in said County of Cumberland, that the said Goff entered into the service of the United States some time in the winter of 1861. That I saw him several times in the State of Rhode Island while he was in the service & as near as I can remember he died in the hospital at Providence in said State of Rhode Island some time in the fall of 1862.
Oxford Ss. January 19, 1888
Isaac Allen
Personally appeared the above named Isaac Allen and made solemn oath that the above certificate by him subscribed is true. before me — James Hensy Jr Justice of the Peace
We the subscribers do hereby certify, that we have been acquainted with Dea. Isaac Allen the above deponent, more than forty years, and that his character for truth & veracity is unimpeachable — Bucksport Jan. 19, 1888. James Hensy Jr

I Isaac Allen of Minot in the County of Cumberland & State of Maine do hereby testify & say, that William of New-Gloucester it was said was said was married same time before the commencement of the Revolutionary war that I saw them walk out bride at the meeting-house & saw them sit together at meetings & have no doubt that they were married, although I did not see them married —
Isaac Allen
Oxford S.S. January 19, 1838
Personally appeared the above named Isaac Allen and made solemn oath, that the above declaration by him subscribed is true, before me — James Hensy, J. Justice of the peace
We the subscribers do hereby certify that we have been acquainted with Dea. Isaac Allen the above deponent more than forty years that his character for truth and veracity is unimpeachable —
James Hensy Jr
Bucksfield Jan. 19, 1838
state of Maine. Oxford County, March 6. 1838. I Thomas Clark, Clerk of all the Judicial Courts within and for the county of Oxford, hereby certify, that James Hensy, Jun. whose signature is written to the foregoing certificate, is a Justice of the Peace in & for said county of Oxford, duly commissioned, qualified & sworn.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed the seal of the sup. Judicial Court and my own signature. Thomas Clark. Clerk of Jud. Courts, Oxford County.

I Joel Stevens of Norway in the county of Oxford and State of Maine, a pensioner of the United States, and a Soldier in the Revolutionary Army, aged eighty four years, on oath declare, that I served in the eight months service, in the year 1775 or 1776, in the company commanded by Capt Moses Merrill, in the Regiment commanded by Col. Shinnery - We were stationed at Cambridge in Massachusetts - that I was a substitute for William Tucker of New Gloucester - and in the same company was well acquainted with William Goff a private in said company, who served for the same term of eight months - I further on oath declare, that the said William Goff was said to have died while in the service of the United States - I well knew his widow, who, after the decease of the said William Goff, married the same William Tucker - David Jordan and Daniel Hearn were likewise privates, in the same company & for the same term -
Attest Thomas Clark
Joel his X Stevens mark
State of Maine Oxford county ss. Feb. 12. 1830. Then personally appeared Joel Stevens, well known to me as a man of truth, whose genuine signature is made to the above affidavit, and made oath that the same is true, according to his best knowledge and belief - before
Thomas Clark, Justice of the Peace & Notary Public, in & for said county of Oxford -

I Isaac Tucker, of Buckfield in the county of Oxford, State of Maine, on oath declare, that Anna Tucker of Sumner in said County is the widow of my late brother William Tucker now deceased; that previous to her marriage with the said William Tucker, she the said Anna Tucker was the widow of William Goff, then of New Gloucester, now deceased, who was a soldier in the war of the revolution - and that the said Anna Tucker is still living unmarried - and a widow as aforesaid -
Isaac Tucker
March 6. 1830
State of Maine,
County of Oxford ss. March 6. 1830. Then personally appeared Isaac Tucker, well known to me as a man of truth, whose genuine signature is made to the above affidavit, and made oath that the same is true.
Thomas Clark, Justice of the peace and clerk of the Judicial Court within and for said County of Oxford

State of Maine. Oxford County ss.
On this 6th day of March A.D. 1838. personally appeared before the Hon. Stephen Eames, Judge of Probate in and for said county, Anna Tucker, a resident of Sumner in the county of Oxford, and State of Maine, aged eighty one years, who, being first duly sworn according to law, doth, on her oath make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed July 4. 1836, and the act explanatory of said act, passed March 3. 1837. That she was married to William Goff, who was a private in the company commanded by Capt. Moses Merrill, in the regiment commanded by Col. Piney in the year 1775 or 1776 & served for the term of eight months , in the Massachusetts line. He likewise served in the company commanded by Capt. Ebenezer Gray, then of North Yarmouth in the county of Cumberland, but she has no knowledge of the term he served in that company. The said William Goff, then of New Gloucester, is marked on the rolls (of the Massachusetts line, as she believes & is in- formed) as having served twelve months & twenty five days in the 1st. Regiment, in the company commanded by Capt. Hancock, he having enlisted for the term of three years ; before the expiration of which last mentioned term, said William Goff sickened & died in a Hospital in Providence in the State of Rhode Island in the fall of the year 1778. the time she does not know. She further declares, that she was married to the said William Goff on the 27th day of May — in the year seven- teen hundred and seventy three; that her husband, the aforesaid William Goff, died on the day of 1778. that she was afterwards married to William Tucker, who died on the day of May 1813. ; and, that she was a widow on the 4th July 1836, and still remains a widow, as will more fully appear by reference to the proof hereto annexed.
her Anna X Tucker mark

Sworn to and subscribed, on the day and year before written, before, Stephen Emery, Judge
State of Maine
Oxford County ss.
I the subscriber Register of the Court of Probate in and for said County hereby certify that Stephen Emery before whom the foregoing proceedings were had is Judge of the Court of Probate aforesaid.
I also certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of said Judge in the matter of the application of Amia Tucker for a Pension. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the seal of said Court this tenth day of March A.D. 1838. Levi Stowell, Register.

Rev  WIDOW, &c.  en
File No. 251, 593
Anna Tucker formerly wid. of William Stafford Esq. Rev. was
Act: July 4 th 1836.
Index:—Vol. 2 , Page 281
[Arrangement of 1870.]

Sent the March 19
Hon. William H. Seward
not letter fully
Washington
free
Report to Hon. A. K. Parris 2 d Comp.

Paris, Me. March 10, 1830.
Dear Sir,
I have in the same mail that will transmit this letter, sent to the Commissioner of Pensions the declaration of Anna Tucker, the widow of William Goff - and now the widow of William Tucker. I shall be much obliged to you to certify on a copy of my letter in the case to Joseph E. Foxcroft and his answers re the character and stand of Col. Foxcroft - The evidence to which he alludes in his letter, is taken from Records, now in his possession - which are not now in the possession of the church or in the town clerk's office. The case may likewise require some further evidence of the death of William Tucker - the precise day of his death she cannot ascertain - but I conclude it may be in your department - as you obtained something for her as the widow of said Tucker while member of Congreg. from Oxford District.
With much respect,
Your Obedt Servt.
Thomas Clark
Hon. Albion K. Parris.
7- M.H.

Paris, Me. March 10. 1838
James L. Edwards, Esq. Commissioner of Pensions.
Sir,
I herewith transmit the declaration of Anna Tucker widow of William Goff, together with the evidence thereunto annexed, to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the acts of Congress passed July 4, 1836 and March 3d 1837.
Respectfully, Your Obedt. Servt.
Thomas Clarke
99.28 64-88 64-62 28/8
8
6 9 11/2

5550 Anna Tucker, formerly widow of William Goff -dec d declaration under act of July 4. 1836 & March 3. 1837-
vol 15. 65. 8mo Corp d Capt Merrill 75- Holes. 1 Ref 21 July 79- 3 years- died Sept 98 17mo. Corp d 25mo 4
adm d 8mo. Corporal 16. private 82.66 p. annu
Hon. A. K. Parris- Thomias Clark, agent Paris, Maine

Joseph E. Foxcroft named in the annexed papers is a gentleman of high respectability, has been Sheriff of the County where he resides and Post master for upwards of thirty years - His father was a Congregational Clergyman, liberally educated, and the most entire confidence may be reposed in his friends and in the extracts certified by his son
William Tucker, the last husband since before the year 1836 - I am not able to certify the precise year, but have no reason to doubt but that the time of his death is correctly stated in the declaration -
Albion H. Parris
March 20. 1830